$USDC
According to the published information, SBI carried out the purchase of around 5% of the 34 million new shares that Circle issued in its IPO, equivalent to a total stake of nearly 0.7% of the company.
SBI and Circle promote USDC in Japan.
SBI and Circle already enjoy an active partnership, after both joined in March to introduce USDC to the Japanese market.
The partners had received regulatory approval from the Financial Services Agency of Japan earlier this month under the country's electronic payment framework. Jeremy Allaire, co-founder and CEO of Circle, stated at that time that the company had been interacting with regulators in Japan for two years in preparation for the launch.
With its latest investment, the heavyweight financial services firm in Japan would be looking to expand the use of Circle's dollar-pegged stablecoin in the local market. As part of the prior integration, USDC was launched on the SBI VC Trade platform.
SBI's participation in Circle's IPO is the latest sign of the growing interest from traditional financial institutions in digital assets; primarily in stablecoins.
Banks and financial institutions worldwide have been rapidly moving towards stablecoins in an effort to modernize legacy payment systems. Thanks to the underlying Blockchain technology, stablecoins have the potential to accelerate global payments, reducing transaction costs and providing greater transparency.
The changing regulatory environment in different regions has favored banks moving to explore the sector.
Returning to Circle, this week's launch makes it one of the few companies in the cryptocurrency industry to publicly list its shares in the United States. Meanwhile, others are rushing to take the same step, with the exchange Gemini next on the list, and Kraken's explicit plans to do the same.
